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Social media: The cause of, or solution to, loneliness

(AP Photo)

Are you lonely? Stay off of social media. Or get on social media. One of the two. I’m not sure which.

This much is certain: Loneliness and social media use are related. A new study published Monday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine concluded that young adults ages 19 to 32 who spent more time on social media felt more socially isolated than their peers who spent less time Facebooking, tweeting and otherwise interacting via a screen.

Right about now is where you should wonder if social media causes isolation. The answer is: No one knows. The study didn’t look at causation, only correlation.

That’s an issue for a future study. But loneliness is not a creation of the social media age. We’ve had it as least as long as we’ve had poets. And no tweet that says “OMG BORED :(” will ever match the beauty of, Carl Sandburg’s “At A Window” for capturing the isolation that comes with merely being a human.

Consider Sandberg’s poem:

Give me hunger,O you gods that sit and giveThe world its orders.Give me hunger, pain and want,Shut me out with shame and failureFrom your doors of gold and fame,Give me your shabbiest, weariest hunger! But leave me a little love,A voice to speak to me in the day end,A hand to touch me in the dark roomBreaking the long loneliness.In the dusk of day-shapesBlurring the sunset,One little wandering, western starThrust out from the changing shores of shadow.Let me go to the window,Watch there the day-shapes of duskAnd wait and know the comingOf a little love.

Does social media make loneliness worse? Or do you think it’s a remedy? Let’s talk about it on social media. Tweet me at @AdamRichterRE.